City 3 - 1 Barcelona - Post match thread :-)

[blue by birth]

theres a few belters on there.

"this time next year KDB will be at Madrid"

"Gundogan is on par with Hererra"

Only time Herrera was on a par with Gundogan was pre season when Gundogan was still injured.
Fuck me the rags probably believe in the tooth fairy and think the brothers Grimm were factual tales.
Hoping for some Turkish delight tomorrow from our Turkish friends.

 

[Bozo]

Watching some of the game back and it's not like Barca played poorly, they were very good. Some of their play is almost telepathic.

 

[crystal_mais]

Great game last night - Should have been 1 nil up before they scored. How that ref has not give the penalty. Was worried for Zaba last night and after they scored, I was fuming. But Pep switched Silva and KDB and then everything changed. We were saying neither were doing anything before that too. But we then just believed and destroyed them. But I was never comfortable until the final whistle.

Credit to all the team but still nervous about Ottamendi. My 8 year old was bouncing all the way home and when he woke up for school today. Just seeing that smile on his face made my night. he has seen us lift trophies, win big games but this one. Proper happy.

 

[Terra Passenger]

Watching some of the game back and it's not like Barca played poorly, they were very good. Some of their play is almost telepathic.

+1

Which makes our win all the more exciting.

We put Barca under pressure deep in their half - something that their not normally used to.

And once our high press forced turnovers, we quickly turned them into scoring opportunities.

We were somewhat unlucky, IMO, not to win by a larger margin - many chances went just slightly astry.

 

[The Lightbowne Cowboy]

Last night was for everyone of us (old enough) that went religiously in the dark days of the 90s. Still shakin like a shittin dog that is listening to shakin Stevens greatest hits album !

 

[gocity]

People say we played them off the park int he second half but also int he first half...they took us apart for 20 mins after their goal but other than that we played well before they scored (should have had a penalty - absolute stone wall and i think it affected sterlings confidence) and in the last 10 mins of it when we did score..

2nd half we should/could have scored 5 or 6 and as pleased as Pep will be he again will no doubt comment (probably privately) on our lack of clinical passing (the last pass) when attacking....it could have been about 6-2 (they should have scored when they hit the bar).

Amazing performance and every player ran themselves into the ground......zabba was reborn and KDB was immense int he second half after a quiet first half.......

Fernandihnio was simply awesome (not sure if he was injured when he went off or if it was tactical)

Ottomendi does live on a knife edge but on occasions he was simply awesome (and one or two occasions just daft!)

Fun ran himself into the ground as well and even Navas played well when he came on....Silva was fantastic at winning balls back and biting into tackles and Ilky was brilliant with another two goals and just keeping the team going.

Pep is an absolute genius! He changed it second half slightly and we totally dominated them for virtually the entire second half (I'm not sure there are many teams that have ever done that to Barca)

And still there were early leavers, unbelievable at a game like that.

 

[Zin 'messiah' Zimmer]

How did Fernandinho get on at right back? (:

 

[purplenose]

Agree :-) A great performance by our side.

For me, Sterling seems to lack confidence in his finishing. Just shoot if you've got a clear shot - no need to pass!

Rahim has grown leaps and bounds under Pep - if Pep can get his shooting confidence up, Sterling could well develop into another Robben.

I am absolutely sure Pep will be spending a considerable amount of time discussing finishing with Raheem Sterling, and given the progress from last seasons headless chicken to a player who has looked like he belongs on the same pitch as Messi, Suarez, Neymar and co i would be very very surprised if Raheem doesnt become a very decent finisher before the season is out.

 

[che_don_john]

Credit to all the team but still nervous about Ottamendi.

Me too. In fact, I can't stand him. He goes to ground too often and dives into challenges, either committing fouls or making a fool of himself as the opposing player skips past him. He is prone to play-acting, which is embarrassing at times (especially when he suddenly bounces up to remonstrate or to continue play). And whenever the ref blows the whistle over a contentious decision, Otamendi sprints all the way over to him and starts harassing him. He was playing really well at the start of the season (despite his theatrical antics) but has since reverted back to his erratic type; I'm struggling to think of a City player over the past 5 years who I've disliked more!

Anyway, cracking result last night. The game was mental, with all the mistakes, missed chances and also all the quality on show from both sides. West Brom was, for me, our best performance to date but last night topped even that.

I'd recognised that Ilkay was a top player but worried whether he fit into our team or had upset the balance, but in the last two games he's shown just how big a player he can be for us.

 

[prof-taf]

That result felt like the fa cup semi win against united it what it means in terms of our progression